Two workers were killed in a rockslide at a quarry in the northern province of Phu Tho Province Wednesday.

The accident occurred at around 10:30 a.m. at the Tran Phu Company's Rock Quarry Giac 1 in the province’s Tan Son District.

The deceased have been identified as local Ha Van Dien, 30, and Vi Tien Luan, 29, of nearby Thanh Son District.

Ha Ke San, deputy chairman of Phu Tho People’s Committee – the provincial administration, arrived at the site soon after the incident and asked the military engineer corps to help search for bodies, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.

Ha Van Khanh, a commune official, said rescuers are removing stone blocks from the cliff above the site before cutting and removing the blocks that crushed the two workers and an excavation machine.

Numerous quarry accidents have been reported in Vietnam.

Mining regulations require quarry owners to work down a mountain or cliff, but many owners try to curb expenses by quarrying upward to break off more rock using fewer explosive charges.

On April 1, 2011, seven workers were injured and 18 were killed at the Len Co quarry in Nghe An province in this fashion.

In May, 2013, the quarry's owner Pham Cong Chinh was sentenced to two years in jail for negligence.

The court found that the accident occurred just eight months after Chin was issued a license to begin mining operations at the quarry in Yen Thanh District.

According to the indictment, Chin did not follow the approved mining plan submitted with his license application. It said his company did not quarry rocks downwards as regulated, but mined at the foot of the mountain, which triggered the rockslide.

Chin, 49, the director of Chin Men Company, was the lone defendant charged with "violations in natural resources excavation."